The One In Massapequa
"The One In Massapequa" is the eighteenth episode of the eighth season of Friends, which aired on March 28, 2002. Plot It's Ross & Monica's parents' 35th wedding anniversary, and Monica is very excited to be giving the speech at this year's celebration. Usually, Ross gives a very moving speech and makes everyone cry. Monica's attempts at writing a moving speech get pretty far-fetched, bringing up dead relatives and pets to get a few tears. Phoebe has decided that "fate" has brought her to her new boyfriend, Parker. He is a constantly cheerful, talkative, energetic and enthusiastic person with a wacky personality and a strange and annoying habit of making a big fuss of everything, even the most trivial things...and his habit of doing this irritates the friends greatly. At the anniversary party, Parker is driving everyone crazy with his ridiculously over-the-top compliments on absolutely everything. Phoebe catches the others making fun of Parker and gets upset, but then realizes that he is driving her crazy as well. Monica & Ross's parents also tell Rachel & Ross that since they are having a child out of wedlock, they've actually told all of their friends that they got married. They don't want to pretend, but when several people give them checks as wedding gifts, they play along. When guests ask for details about the proposal and wedding, they actually end up having a lot of fun telling others about their fantasy day, with Rachel creating various extravagant details while Ross tells a touching story about proposing to her in the planetarium where they had their first date, making it seem like there is some spark left between them. Monica gives the anniversary toast and it is a total dud. She gets desperate and brings up Terms of Endearment and neglected Romanian children in an attempt to get her parents to become emotional and cry, but her speech eventually gets so ridiculous that no-one can feel anything except bewilderment after hearing it, not even the starry-eyed Parker. Ross then gets up and gives a brief two-sentence toast stating that he and Rachel would consider themselves lucky to be half as happy as Jack and Judy in thirty-five years, which makes his parents cry. Monica is frustrated. Parker breaks up with Phoebe for angrily telling him, after getting fed up with his constant enthusiasm, that she wants him to be "much less happy." After arguing with her, Parker angrily storms out of the room...and then returns to compliment the argument. Back at their apartment, Ross and Rachel continue to debate some details of their fictional marriage, with Rachel being touched when she learns that Ross's story about his proposal to her was the one he actually planned to use when they were going out. At the end of the episode, a sympathetic Ross comforts an upset Monica, assuring her that he thought her speech was great, and he doesn't understand why nobody cried, also claiming that their late grandmother would have loved it, and that she was there in spirit. This makes Monica cry, and then say "Oh good God, Ross! How the hell do you do it?" Cast and Crew Main Cast Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green Courtney Cox - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Supporting Cast Alec Baldwin - Parker Elliott Gould - Jack Geller Christina Pickles - Judy Geller Kat Sawyer-Young - Catherine Ellen Gerstein - Aunt Lisa John C. Moskoff - Uncle Dan Aixa Clemente - The female guest Bob Bencomo - Male Guest Crew Directed By: Gary Halvorson Written By: Peter Tibais Mark Kunerth Trivia General *Before heading out to the Geller's 35th wedding anniversary, Parker inquires about the location. Monica tells him it's in Massapequa, and Parker replies that he's never been there. Alec Baldwin, who portrays Parker, was born in Massapequa. *In the large photograph displayed at the Gellers' anniversary party, Jack and Judy wear the exact same outfits as they are wearing in person at the party. *If you watch carefully on the screen throughout the party scenes, you can see a man wearing glasses and looking just like Stephen Waltham, who is the father of Emily Waltham Ross's second ex-wife. Goofs/Continuity *It is unknown how Jack and Judy learned about Ross getting Rachel pregnant. *When referring to the dead dog in the photograph, Monica refers to it as "she" and then minutes later refers to the same dog as "he." Then, in the closing titles of this episode, Ross refers to Chichi as "she." *Additionally, in The One With The Thumb when Ross tells everyone that Chichi was sent away to live on a farm before realizing the dog had actually died, he also refers to the dog as "he." *Jack Geller is often replaced by a poor stand-in. At one point, the stand-in is wearing dark framed glasses, not even wearing the same suit and tie! Not to mention the HUGE height difference. *Jack and Judy are handed the picture of Chichi twice. *Despite the fact that almost everyone at the party believes Rachel and Ross are married, no one notices the lack of wedding rings on their fingers. Episode Navigation Category:Friends Episodes Category:Season 8